Why don't I listen to myself?

[Rod/b]

I’ve had a couple of SEATs of a similar vintage - 2000 Leon 1.4s and a 2001 Toledo V5 170.  I was really disappointed with the Leon inparticular, which my Mrs bought pre-reg. In the space of 3 years it went through 3 cambelts with idlers , tensioners and water pumps failing prematurely. Luckily no engine damage.  All OE kit done at SEAT. Final time we took it to a specialist who used upgraded aftermarket parts which saw it good.  It also used to absolutely drink oil and fouled up the o2 sensors in the process. Also had a seized wiper mechanism, boot lock used to fail all the time, interior plastics went all funny... 

[sierraman]

I think Volvo have gone same way. Sister in laws XC60 has only done 75k and the piston rings are fucked. 

[garbaldy]

8 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

The software seemed to know when the car was in a workshop environment,  revving whilst not moving etc, and used a different map. All hidden in code.

 

This kinda opens your eyes to what goes on.. from the New York Times..

New high-end cars are among the most sophisticated machines on the planet, containing 100 million or more lines of code. Compare that with about 60 million lines of code in all of Facebook or 50 million in the Large Hadron 

I did wonder as I had an A3 1.9tdie and while under the bonnet checking all the pipework it just wouldn't  rev out which I thought was strange,  when I shut the bonnet and jumped in it reved right round again which I thought was weird at the time,   

I'm wondering if there are some petrols that have used a cheat to claim cheep tax too but haven't been checked.

[garbaldy]

13 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I think Volvo have gone same way. Sister in laws XC60 has only done 75k and the piston rings are fucked. 

Boss has had two volvo letters for his last two cars warning him to not drive if the oil level is higher than normal on the dipstick the first one was about 8 years ago too.

 

At this rate with moderns we won't have any 10 plus year old cars left for us to buy up cheep in years to come.

[Split_Pin]

Imagine how cheap they will be if everyone else is scared of them though. The LCBL thread will explode!

[cort1977]

4 hours ago, leanycan said:

I firmly believe the VW diesel scandal is what sounded the death knell for diesel cars and has brought on the current wave of lets buy electric cars pish. Yes, saving the planet and all that is a must and clean renewable energy has to be better than diesel for sure but look at what company has benefitted from that massively, Tesla... an American corporation. Does make you wonder. 

Anyway as a side note... anyone else think the govt will have to backtrack on the banning sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030...

Yep, the emissions scandal screwed diesel but there was also all the local air pollution data coming in as well.  The push for diesel came from a desire to reduce CO2 which it did, just increased fine particulate pollution as well. 

Although Tesla makes a lot of noise, it doesn't actually sell that many cars and compared to all the other US manufacturers doesn't employ many registered voters or have any big dealers who have massive political clout in the States.  So I don't think they are particularly supported by the US govt or establishment.

The ban is on pure petrol and diesel cars, expect to see different types of hybrids that can operate on electric only depending which zone they are in.  But no, I don't think they will backtrack on the 2030 date, it will be effectively required by Euro7 anyway so the UK government wont have too much choice as the manufacturers will go that way anyway.

[Out Run]

On 12/7/2020 at 11:59 PM, The Mighty Quinn said:

I'd disagree. Yes, BMW, VW  etc stuff has gone downhill but I reckon Fords are really good cars and have been for 10 years or more. I bought a 59 plate 1.4 Fiesta for my Mrs in 2018, first of the Mark 6(?) shape. It had done 115,000 miles (125 now) and it's perfect. There's no rust and everything works perfectly.

Whilst I wouldn't give a ten year old Merc or BMW house room, I'd readily buy a 2010 Mondeo and know it would be a good car and cheap to run.

This is where you find the smart money.

[Matty]

Nah, no smart money. You pays yer money you takes yer chance. With every car

[sierraman]

9 minutes ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Which engine? The XC60 was 'helped' along by Land Rover which is never a good thing.

‘14 plate XC60 D4 2.0 diesel. Goes through a pint of oil a month - only does couple of hundred miles a month. Intermittent smoke from engine. Booked in at Volvo next month for a compression test. 

Volvo Forums are full of stories of faulty oil control rings. Not sure on origin of the engine, looks similar to the unit in the Mk5 Mondeo. 

[artdjones]

12 minutes ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Anyway as a side note... anyone else think the govt will have to backtrack on the banning sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030...

As they are also planning to ban gas and oil boilers one wonders where they expect the extra generating capacity to come from.

[sierraman]

15 minutes ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Possibly, under huge pressure from car makers. All those huge glass palace showrooms trying to sell cars that perhaps 50% of car buyers want, as well as the manufacturers who have ten years to renew their entire model ranges. Tick tock. I wonder if many will just consider it too much hassle and pull out of the UK?

I’ve noticed Ford aren’t busting a gut to come out with a mass market pure electric car. Maybe they know that it can’t be done for a mass market price like the cost of a new Fiesta or whatever. 

[Barry Cade]

4 minutes ago, sierraman said:

‘14 plate XC60 D4 2.0 diesel. Goes through a pint of oil a month - only does couple of hundred miles a month. Intermittent smoke from engine. Booked in at Volvo next month for a compression test. 

Volvo Forums are full of stories of faulty oil control rings. Not sure on origin of the engine, looks similar to the unit in the Mk5 Mondeo. 

Couple of hundred miles a month? I'd be doing a bypass decoke i think 😁

[sierraman]

2 minutes ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Ah, Chinesium.

Basically they’ve paid (3 months ago) £12k for what will shortly be a driveway ornament. 

[sierraman]

51 minutes ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

Whoops.

 

Talk about living off past glories. Volvos used to be about the toughest cars, the old D5 engine etc.

 

Time to shove that one into WBAC?

Big loss though. Mind you not quite as much as the cost of re ringing the pistons. Assuming you could find a garage happy to take that on you’d be looking thick end of at least £1500. 

[garbaldy]

 Bosses first volvo was a d5 some special ocean race edition and he chucked it in after numerous recalls, the final straw was the oil level letter as he wouldn't want stranded,   he's still volvo loyal though as in the 20 years I've worked for them he's had 6 and has a new one yet again,  the adaptive cruise was a real eye opener and amazing technology,

 

Back to vag and I clean forgot we have a seat ibiza 1.4tdi that I bought for daughter 2 (yeh i know but she wanted one) and it keeps throwing on the coil light which resets on restart and the engine light has come and gone twice too, computer says low boost so looks like fun ahead.

Do you fancy fixing it  @Barry Cade

 

 

[Barry Cade]

25 minutes ago, garbaldy said:

 Bosses first volvo was a d5 some special ocean race edition and he chucked it in after numerous recalls, the final straw was the oil level letter as he wouldn't want stranded,   he's still volvo loyal though as in the 20 years I've worked for them he's had 6 and has a new one yet again,  the adaptive cruise was a real eye opener and amazing technology,

 

Back to vag and I clean forgot we have a seat ibiza 1.4tdi that I bought for daughter 2 (yeh i know but she wanted one) and it keeps throwing on the coil light which resets on restart and the engine light has come and gone twice too, computer says low boost so looks like fun ahead.

Do you fancy fixing it  @Barry Cade

 

 

Not a chance 😱..

 

My brand new V40 started playing up on holiday in Germany, ran really rough when cold and the first time ever made me think I might not get home under my own steam.. previous continental expresses were an old Alfa 145, and a 350 quid  W124.. Volvo just put it down to a software update... also 48 mpg instead of the brochure promised 82.. 🤣. Based on the Focus.. it was a 63 plate. I now have a 63 plate Focus with 100k on it and its a better car.. and I'm a Scotch Volvo licker. They filed off all the good bits with the later ones.

Lost 12 and a half grand on the volvo too, in not quite 3 years and 18,000 miles. Glad to see the back of it.

[1duck]

12 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Not a chance 😱..

 

My brand new V40 started playing up on holiday in Germany, ran really rough when cold and the first time ever made me think I might not get home under my own steam.. previous continental expresses were an old Alfa 145, and a 350 quid  W124.. Volvo just put it down to a software update... also 48 mpg instead of the brochure promised 82.. 🤣. Based on the Focus.. it was a 63 plate. I now have a 63 plate Focus with 100k on it and its a better car.. and I'm a Scotch Volvo licker. They filed off all the good bits with the later ones.

Lost 12 and a half grand on the volvo too, in not quite 3 years and 18,000 miles. Glad to see the back of it.

my mate went out and bought himself a volvo estate recently, because he'd just had a kid so he had to get rid of his golf...i told him not to do it, but £19,000 of finance later he had a shiny new(1 previous owner 12k mile) volvo, needless to say he wishes he'd kept the golf that he had put 175k miles onto. Although that wasn't without fault either and it was getting to the point where it was about due another timing belt/waterpump...i still can't help but think he wouldn't have had 17 grands worth of bills though (plus the thousands that he has spent since and the time wasted going to the garage/waiting for it to be fixed etc) , but that's probably just me doing bullshit mental maths.

Honestly i'm shocked that more people in the uk don't drive lexuses who are in that sort of market. A toyota by all other names but with all the luxuries of a fancy car.

[cort1977]

6 minutes ago, 1duck said:

Honestly i'm shocked that more people in the uk don't drive lexuses who are in that sort of market. A toyota by all other names but with all the luxuries of a fancy car.

The UK must be the most badge-conscious market in the world.  I still meet civilians who look down on Skoda's FFS.  (And not because they're just VAG shite like we do on here, they're still stuck on jokes by Jasper Carrott.)

[Cavcraft]

All the VW apologists in the world can make their excuses and tell you how great those cars are. Here's a better picture of the 'build quality' though...

...I'm not accepting any excuses (must have been an after market wing/all cars registered in that region rust like that/previous owner must be SpongeBob Square pants etc) because it's down to these cars being shit.

On the way to work this morning I was rewarded by an automatic sock and trainer cleaning device in the shape of a fair amount of water dribbling in from under the dashboard. I bet that will end well with the electrics and anything under the carpet.

They clearly didn't learn from earlier models, such as the God awful Passats.

The seats haven't changed since the MK3 Golf either, you sit on them rather than in them. The dashboard is still that full VW wank pot with weird coloured illuminated dials, too.

I've had some truly abused/neglected Zafiras etc and not a single one was as shit or rusty as this thing.

[Rocket88]

It seems that car designers have actually forgotten what the purpose of "an car" is................it used to be to transfer one from A to B reliably, and comfortably, on the proviso that the custodian actually looked after the bloody thing with a reasonable degree of care and consideration.

Now...it's how much useless electronic bollocks can we lever into the thing to make it "attractive" to the digital generation...........sod having decent engine/gearbox and suspension, as long as it's got 14 electronic gizmos so that you can talk to your mate on the other side of the world, whilst "adaptive cruise", "lane assist", and fuck knows what keeps you from mowing down passing nuns.........

[bunglebus]

Maybe sir would prefer a Mercedes?

 

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Maybe sir would prefer a Mercedes?

 

Mercedes actually came out and said to their investors that they had been over engineering their cars and were in future going to make them just good enough, which would leave lots more juicy profit for the shareholders. The above is the result. It's taken about 15 years to partially rebuild their reputation.

[bunglebus]

I was working for them when we were getting E classes in with rusty wheelarches, spring hangers falling off inner wings and crossmembers with the bottoms missing. 

[Cavcraft]

Yeah, wasn't there a thing with sort of 1997-ish  Mercs where the suspension collapsed because they  were so crap?

[rickvw72]

I think it’s the recent fashion to have a really strong polarised opinion on anything. It seems that you are not allowed to just like stuff, you have to be a fan boy or a hater.

Ill summarise my points, I’ve got three (admittedly old) VWs. I keep them as I like them. I don’t support the nazi party, wish I live in a house VAG built, and haven’t named my children Ferdinand or Porsche.

Someone I know was genuinely surprised I own three Japanese cars too. It was like I was supposed to only like VWs, and only drive VWs for ever more because I’ve got three old ones. 
 

Personnally I like decent cars. I don’t massively care who built it, but rate stuff on whether it’s decent in my experience.

My trade background means I’m happy to offer a terrible review on anything that’s shit from such experience. Think Peugeot 407s, the awful 1.6 HDi / TDCi engine in everything, and stuff like welding a 5 year old transit sill for an MoT gives me a certain viewpoint on some stuffs quality. 
 

A rusty wing on a 15 year old golf, which doesn’t exactly look a loved example, ain’t gonna convince me everything VAG built, and will ever build again, is a steaming turd. 
 

This polar opinion thing is prevelant with politics especially.

its seems you have to be in love with Jeremy Corbyn, or be a racist far right capitalist. It seems like you can’t be simply just “not a knob”

[Cavcraft]

Wait until you buy a Vectra.

[rickvw72]

49 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

Wait until you buy a Vectra.

It’ll be a long wait. I’ll warn you now.

[artdjones]

2 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

Yeah, wasn't there a thing with sort of 1997-ish  Mercs where the suspension collapsed because they  were so crap?

The cup that fits over the spring top and feeds the load into the inner wing had a nasty habit of rusting off the inner wing.

[Out Run]

On 12/9/2020 at 3:04 PM, Matty said:

Nah, no smart money. You pays yer money you takes yer chance. With every car

Some are better than others, though. 
Granted, all are a risk.

[Barry Cade]

31 minutes ago, artdjones said:

The cup that fits over the spring top and feeds the load into the inner wing had a nasty habit of rusting off the inner wing.

It was the panel that incorporated the top spring cup, Mercedes cut down the number of spot welds to attach this to the inner wing, and stopped seam sealing the joints.  I remember MOTing them back in the day and it was frightening sometimes, the 300td was the worst as the big heavy engine put more strain in this area. I've picked a few up off the road too and it makes a real mess when they give out.